More "Physical" Responsibility for Financial Matters?

I won't name names here because I have not been able to verify this quote, but apparently a City Council member in one city recently commented that the city needed more "physical responsibility."

This, of course, conjured up the image at left for me. Perhaps the Council member wanted the Council members to carry the weight of the city's financial woes literally on their shoulders much as the Titan Atlas was condemned to support the heavens on his shoulders.

Common sense (and a good reference dictionary) would suggest that the Council member meant to say that the city needed more fiscal responsibility--the word FISCAL referring to the treasury or finances of a branch of government. A quick read of most local newspapers would suggest that city (and county) governments need to take more responsibility for handling fiscal issues.

NOTE: Here again, as I have mentioned many times before, a spelling checker would not catch this error because PHYSICAL and FISCAL are both words.

A word of welcome to any new readers among those who participated in the Business Writing Workshop at Auburn University Montgomery last Thursday. It was a pleasure to work with all of you!